Week 13 A&P Lab & Inquiry: Map the Brain

Human Anatomy and Physiology I Free sample edition

Part 1 — The Big Picture

This week you learned that the central nervous system is a map: each lobe of the cerebrum has its own job, the cerebellum polishes every move, the thalamus relays while the hypothalamus regulates, the brainstem keeps the heartbeat and breathing regulated, three meninges wrap it all, and the spinal cord can answer a hot pan on its own. In this lab you build that map the way an anatomist does. You open a free virtual anatomy atlas, find seven regions, record each region's job and the clue that locates it, and put one reflex arc in order. Then you check a chatbot's account of the same map and catch where it mislabels a region, gives a region the wrong job, scrambles an order, miscounts, confuses gray and white matter, or invents a number.

Time budget: Plan for about 120 minutes.

Part 2 — The Task

Guiding question: Can you find seven regions of the central nervous system on a virtual atlas, give each its primary function and an identifying location, and trace one reflex arc in order?

Before you begin — hypothesis: Before you identify anything, write your hypothesis in the if… then… because… form: if each region's job follows from its place, then the two structures deep in the center, the thalamus and the hypothalamus, will land in different job columns even though they sit side by side, because of a reason you can state about what each one does with a signal.

Workshop data: Your own identifications of seven brain regions and one reflex arc on a free virtual atlas, or the printed fallback descriptions

Source: Seven region identifications and one ordered reflex arc you make yourself on a free virtual anatomy atlas with the procedure in Part 3; if you cannot open an atlas, use the nine printed descriptions in the fallback, which were written for this lab as a stand-in for an atlas view.

Rows: 12 observations: 7 regions, one row each in the region table, and 5 parts of the reflex arc, one row each in the reflex-arc table; the planning table has 3 rows that set up the hypothesis rather than data
Columns: for regions: primary function and identifying location; for the reflex arc: the part and where it sits

Part 3 — Materials & Procedure

Tools and materials

A free virtual anatomy atlas or 3D anatomy viewer (Innerbody, GetBodySmart), a virtual microscope for histology (Histology Guide), free physiology simulations (PhET pH Scale, Membrane Channels, Neuron, Gene Expression Essentials), and a spreadsheet (Google Sheets or any free spreadsheet)

Ways of working

structure-identification-on-a-virtual-atlas
histology-on-a-virtual-microscope
at-home-physiology-measurement-and-data-table

Procedure

Open a free virtual anatomy atlas or 3D anatomy viewer that needs no login, in any web browser, and go to its nervous system or brain view. If your instructor names a particular atlas, use that one. Tool: A free virtual anatomy atlas or 3D anatomy viewer (Innerbody, GetBodySmart), a virtual microscope for histology (Histology Guide), free physiology simulations (PhET pH Scale, Membrane Channels, Neuron, Gene Expression Essentials), and a spreadsheet (Google Sheets or any free spreadsheet). Check: The atlas's brain view is open.
Turn the brain so you see it from the side, with the face toward your left, and find the folded surface of the cerebrum. Tool: A free virtual anatomy atlas or 3D anatomy viewer (Innerbody, GetBodySmart), a virtual microscope for histology (Histology Guide), free physiology simulations (PhET pH Scale, Membrane Channels, Neuron, Gene Expression Essentials), and a spreadsheet (Google Sheets or any free spreadsheet). Check: The cerebrum's ridges and grooves are in view from the side.
Before you identify anything, write your hypothesis and the view you chose in the first table in Part 4. Tool: A free virtual anatomy atlas or 3D anatomy viewer (Innerbody, GetBodySmart), a virtual microscope for histology (Histology Guide), free physiology simulations (PhET pH Scale, Membrane Channels, Neuron, Gene Expression Essentials), and a spreadsheet (Google Sheets or any free spreadsheet). Check: The first table has its three cells filled.
Find the seven regions listed in the region table: the frontal lobe, the occipital lobe, the cerebellum, the thalamus, the hypothalamus, the medulla oblongata in the brainstem, and the meninges. Click or hover on each to confirm its name; turn on a cut or deep view to reach the thalamus and the hypothalamus. Tool: A free virtual anatomy atlas or 3D anatomy viewer (Innerbody, GetBodySmart), a virtual microscope for histology (Histology Guide), free physiology simulations (PhET pH Scale, Membrane Channels, Neuron, Gene Expression Essentials), and a spreadsheet (Google Sheets or any free spreadsheet). Check: All seven regions have been found and their names confirmed.
For each region, record its primary function and one identifying location, such as front, back, deep in the center, or the lowest part of the stem; for the meninges, record the three layers from outer to inner. Tool: A free virtual anatomy atlas or 3D anatomy viewer (Innerbody, GetBodySmart), a virtual microscope for histology (Histology Guide), free physiology simulations (PhET pH Scale, Membrane Channels, Neuron, Gene Expression Essentials), and a spreadsheet (Google Sheets or any free spreadsheet). Check: Every row of the region table has a function and a location.
Find the spinal cord, then fill the reflex-arc table for a hand pulling away from a hot pan: write the five parts in order, from the first part that senses the heat to the part that moves the hand, and say where each part sits. Tool: A free virtual anatomy atlas or 3D anatomy viewer (Innerbody, GetBodySmart), a virtual microscope for histology (Histology Guide), free physiology simulations (PhET pH Scale, Membrane Channels, Neuron, Gene Expression Essentials), and a spreadsheet (Google Sheets or any free spreadsheet). Check: Every row of the reflex-arc table has a part and a place.
Check every row of both tables against Chapter 13, then answer the analysis questions in Part 5 and complete the critique in Part 6. Tool: A free virtual anatomy atlas or 3D anatomy viewer (Innerbody, GetBodySmart), a virtual microscope for histology (Histology Guide), free physiology simulations (PhET pH Scale, Membrane Channels, Neuron, Gene Expression Essentials), and a spreadsheet (Google Sheets or any free spreadsheet). Check: Every analysis question has a written answer.

Fallback route

When to use it: Use this route if you cannot open a free virtual anatomy atlas, if the atlas will not load on your device, or if it has no brain or nervous system view you can turn.

Use the nine printed descriptions below, written for this lab as a stand-in for an atlas view, to fill every cell of the region table and the reflex-arc table, then complete every analysis question and the critique from them and submit the same items for equal credit.

This route earns the same credit as the primary route.

Nine printed descriptions of the brain's regions, the spinal cord, and one reflex path as they would appear on an atlas, written for this lab as a stand-in.

Fallback model data
Region or path	What the description shows
The frontal lobe	The front part of the cerebrum, behind the forehead; it holds the ridge where commands for voluntary movement begin and the area that produces language
The occipital lobe	The back part of the cerebrum; its cortex receives what the eyes report and turns it into sight
The cerebellum	A separate, finely folded region tucked under the back of the cerebrum that checks each movement against what the body actually did
The thalamus	A paired structure deep in the center of the brain, in the diencephalon, through which signals from the senses, except smell, pass on their way to the cortex
The hypothalamus	A small cluster of nuclei deep in the brain beside the thalamus, in the diencephalon, that keeps conditions inside the body, such as temperature, steady
The medulla oblongata, in the brainstem	The lowest part of the stalk that joins the brain to the spinal cord, below the midbrain and the pons, where the heartbeat and breathing are regulated
The meninges around the brain	Three wrappings seen in a cut view: a tough outer covering, a fine web-like middle layer with a fluid-filled space under it, and a delicate inner layer that follows every groove
The spinal cord, seen in a cut	A cord inside the backbone with a darker gray region in the middle and a paler ring of wiring around it
The hot-pan path	Heat sensors in the skin of the hand, a nerve cell carrying the signal into the spinal cord, a connecting cell inside the cord, a nerve cell carrying the command back out, and the arm muscles that bend the elbow

Part 4 — The Scaffold

State your question and hypothesis before you look, so the mapping tests an idea instead of confirming a guess.

Student scaffold table 1
Part of the plan	Your answer
The guiding question in your own words
Hypothesis (if… then… because…)
The atlas view you used to see the brain

Name each region's main job and the clue that lets you find it again, so a classmate could locate the same spot.

Student scaffold table 2
Region	Primary function	Identifying location
The frontal lobe
The occipital lobe
The cerebellum
The thalamus
The hypothalamus
The medulla oblongata, in the brainstem
The meninges around the brain

Put the hot-pan reflex in order, one part per row, so the path from the skin to the muscle can be read top to bottom.

Student scaffold table 3
Step	Part of the reflex arc	Where it sits
Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Step 4
Step 5

Part 5 — Analysis Questions

Which two regions in your table sit deep in the center of the brain, in the diencephalon, and how does the job of one differ from the job of the other? Name each from your table.
A made-up phone app labels the occipital lobe as the hearing center. Using your region table, explain which lobe holds vision and which holds hearing, and why the app's label is wrong.
Using your reflex-arc table, explain why the hand leaves the hot pan before the pain reaches awareness, say where the interneuron sits, and connect that place to the gray matter inside the spinal cord.
Name one way an on-screen atlas brain, or the printed descriptions, differs from a real body, and explain how that difference could lead someone to a wrong region, a wrong layer order, or a wrong job.
Choose one reflection and answer it in three to five sentences: (a) which row of your tables would be easiest for a classmate to get wrong, and what cue would you give them? (b) which of this week's swapped pairs (occipital and temporal, cerebrum and cerebellum, thalamus and hypothalamus) did this lab help you keep apart, and how?

Part 6 — AI-Critique Moment

Choose one equal-credit critique route. Route A: ask an approved AI tool to critique your completed work, then check its response against your own evidence. Route B is the no-AI equivalent printed below.

Approved tools: Claude, Gemini, ChatGPT, Grok, Microsoft Copilot.

Prompt to paste:

I've pasted my completed Week 13 region table and reflex-arc table above. For each of the seven regions, give its primary function and where it sits. List the meninges from outer to inner, and put the parts of the hot-pan reflex arc in order, saying where the interneuron sits. Tell me whether the spinal cord keeps its gray matter inside or outside, and add up the rows of my two tables. If you use any measurement or study, give its source.

Test the response for these likely failures:

Chatbots often give vision to the temporal lobe and hearing to the occipital lobe, because both lobes sit toward the back half of the head.
Chatbots sometimes say the cerebrum coordinates balance, or swap the thalamus and the hypothalamus.
Chatbots sometimes slip a digit when adding the two tables, reporting 7 + 5 as 13 entries.
Chatbots sometimes list the meninges inner to outer, or put the motor neuron before the interneuron in the reflex arc.
Chatbots sometimes say the spinal cord is built like the cerebrum, with its gray matter on the outside.
Asked about a region, chatbots often supply a share of the brain's cells, a weight, or a size that this lab never gave.

In three to five sentences, quote at least two statements from the chatbot that you corrected, give the correction with evidence from your tables or Chapter 13, and name one thing the chatbot got right.

Equivalent route (no AI required)

No AI account is required for this lab. Instead of the chatbot, critique this flawed analysis, printed here in full: "In my atlas tables, the occipital lobe processes hearing and the temporal lobe processes vision. The cerebrum coordinates balance, and the hypothalamus relays touch and sight to the cortex. From outer to inner, the meninges are the pia mater, the arachnoid mater, and the dura mater, and the reflex runs receptor, motor neuron, interneuron, sensory neuron, effector. The spinal cord keeps its white matter inside and its gray matter outside. My two tables hold 7 + 5 = 13 entries. A study found that the cerebellum holds 43 percent of the brain's cells." Mark it up: quote each flawed sentence, name what is wrong (a mislabeled structure, a wrong structure-to-function pairing, steps out of order, a miscomputed value, a confused directional term or tissue type, or an invented figure), cite the evidence from your tables or Chapter 13, and write a corrected sentence beneath it. This route assesses the same objectives (Objective 7 and Objective 3) as the chatbot critique, takes comparable effort (about 30 minutes and 200–300 words), is scored by the same scoring criteria for the same credit, and its own submission artifact is the marked-up flawed analysis, posted in place of the chatbot share link and report.

Part 7 — What to Submit

All three completed scaffold tables, filled from your own atlas work or the printed fallback descriptions
Written answers to all five analysis questions, including your chosen reflection option
The chatbot critique report with its share link, or the equivalent route's marked-up flawed analysis

Deliverable:

A short A&P Lab & Inquiry report on mapping the brain: three completed tables (the plan with your hypothesis, the seven-region table with functions and locations, and the five-part reflex-arc table), written answers to five analysis questions, and a critique of a chatbot's account of your map, or, on the equivalent route, a marked-up correction of the printed flawed analysis. Submit in any accessible file type or as a link; a recorded response may be submitted as audio or video with a transcript, or as text. Choose a written, recorded, or visual form for your answers; every form is graded by the same scoring criteria.

Rubric

The rubric below shows how each submitted part is evaluated; bands are full, partial, or none.

Workshop evaluation criteria
Criterion	Full	Partial	None
Hypothesis and view set before identifying	An if… then… because… hypothesis about how the thalamus and the hypothalamus will sort by job appears before the identifications, and the student names the atlas view or fallback used.	A hypothesis appears but lacks a because clause or is written after the identifications, or the view used is missing or unclear.	No hypothesis and no statement of the view used.
Region table with correct functions and locations	All seven regions carry the correct primary function and a usable location, vision sits with the occipital lobe, coordination with the cerebellum, relaying with the thalamus, regulating with the hypothalamus, and the meninges appear outer to inner.	Four to six regions are correct, or the occipital and temporal jobs are swapped, or the thalamus and hypothalamus are swapped, or the meninges are reversed.	Fewer than four regions are correct, or the table is missing.
Reflex-arc table in order	All five parts appear in order from receptor to effector, each with a correct place, and the interneuron sits in the spinal cord.	The five parts appear with one or two out of order or misplaced, or the interneuron is placed in the brain.	Fewer than three parts are in the right order, or the table is missing.
Analysis in words	Questions 1 to 4 are answered accurately: the thalamus and the hypothalamus contrasted by job, vision and hearing placed in the right lobes, the reflex explained through the spinal cord's interneuron and its inner gray matter, and one concrete limitation of the atlas or descriptions; the chosen reflection option is answered.	The questions are attempted, but one or two answers swap a region pair, misplace the interneuron, or give a vague limitation.	The analysis questions are not answered.
Critique of the chatbot or of the printed flawed analysis	On either route, at least two errors are quoted and corrected with evidence from the student's own tables or Chapter 13, and one correct point is acknowledged; both routes earn this band equally.	On either route, errors are named but corrected without evidence, or only one error is caught.	No critique appears on either route, or pasted output is submitted without any checking.

Quality Gate

Every identification comes from your own atlas work or the printed fallback descriptions, never from memory or a chatbot.
Every region carries a primary function and an identifying location a classmate could use to find it.
The meninges are listed from outer to inner, and the reflex arc runs from the receptor to the effector with the interneuron in the spinal cord.
Vision is given to the occipital lobe, coordination to the cerebellum, relaying to the thalamus, and regulating to the hypothalamus.
No measurement, study, or source is invented anywhere in the submission.
The critique quotes the chatbot or the flawed analysis and corrects at least two errors with evidence from your tables or Chapter 13.

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